8.1. Adding Phone Extensions by Rewiring or Other OptionsWhen I tell people their existing telephone wiring will not work with their new broadband phone, they always react the same way: despair. People expect phone extensions to work because they always have. When they purchase broadband phones, they just assume the new phones will act exactly like their old phones. Oops, that fine print got us again. The good news? You have options. Some are free, some cost a little, some cost a lot, but you still have options. The bad news? Most of these options costs money, and one reason many people switch to broadband phones is to save money. Remember that many broadband phone users keep their traditional telephone and use their new, advanced phone for long distance only and as a standard second line. In such a case, existing extensions can continue to function as they are. The new broadband phone options don't have to be used in any certain way. This option is the least expensive and sidesteps many of the problems encountered when making your broadband phone service your only phone service. Yes, you can rely completely on your broadband service, but new and growing markets have bumpy roads until market size smoothes the way. Let me outline three options for handling extensions when switching to broadband phones. These rank in the order I feel provides the best value and highest satisfaction rating for most users. You're free to disagree, of course, since this is your book and your phone. But don't automatically assume your new broadband phones must be handled they way you handled your traditional telephone lines. If you stop using Ma Bell's phones, don't keep letting Ma Bell tell you how to use your phones. 8.1.1. Plan AExpandable Cordless PhonesReplacing old extension phones with expandable cordless phones works quickly and provides an excellent platform for all your new broadband phone services (refer back to Chapter 4 to refresh your memory and see some pictures). I believe this option provides the highest satisfaction rating with the best new hardware to enhance your new broadband phone service. If you haven't bought a new cordless phone recently, you may be amazed at their capabilities today. I know I was. As an example of the modern cordless phone, Motorola sent me one of their MD761 base stations and a MD71 handset to match. The Motorola MD761 base station includes room for four AAA batteries so the phone continues working during home power outagessomething else that surprised me. These phones fairly well represent the features sets of expandable cordless phones today. This unit has an answering machine, but most models have a choice of answering machine or not. Table 8-1 shows the features of the MD761 and MD71.
The FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) digital technology referenced at the top of Table 8-1 may seem like marketing blather, but it's real technology used by multiple vendors. 5.8 GHz is the highest frequency available for consumer telephone electronics today, up from the original 900MHz cordless phones and the previous 2.4GHz high level. This frequency range won't interfere with, or be affected by, your microwave oven or your wireless network based on 802.11b and 802.11g technology. In addition, the answering machine component includes the following features:
The base station takes more room than those without an answering machine, but not so much that it takes over your desk or end table. Figure 8-1 shows the image straight from the Motorola web site. Figure 8-1. One of the new breed of expandable cordless phonesExpandable handsets obviously take less space. The charging cradle for those is only slightly bigger than the handset itself and takes up little room. The large round dial-looking thing isn't a dial, but it lights up when the phone rings. It also blinks orange on and off when the phone company has a voicemail waiting (I tested it with Vonage but all the phone-centric providers work). Normally, you don't know when you have a Vonage voicemail at home until you pick up a handset and hear a stuttering dial tone. That signal means voicemail awaits, although I always think the network's having trouble until I remember about voicemail. The blinking light on the Motorola unit offers a great middle ground between the handiness of getting voicemails from your provider via email for easy remote checks and still announcing voicemail when you're home and want to know there's a message waiting. Oddly, the orange light doesn't blink when you have a message on the internal answering machine. For that, the number of waiting messages blinks on the display (the top right of the unit) and the expandable handset show the number of messages on their screens. You can hear your messages from any handset or by pushing a button on the base station. There are two things I'm not thrilled about with this expandable cordless phone. Okay, three. I wish waiting messages in the internal answering had a better alert, more like the waiting voicemails at the phone company. I wish the handsets stood up on their own when not in the cradle, because most other cordless phones do. And I think the wall mounting bracket arrangement is pretty stupid. But those are pretty minor complaints. I believe you will spend less money overall and get more use from new expandable cordless phones than any other option. But you can feel free to disagree and move on to Plan B. 8.1.2. Plan BWireless Phone JacksIf you have a set of phones you're happy with, or are the type of person who leaves things laying around and can't find them again and so don't trust yourself with cordless phones, Plan B may help. Wireless phone jacks convert voice signals to run over the electrical wiring in your home and allow you to put a phone plug anywhere you have a power outlet. This type of networking is perfectly safe, and works with fast Ethernet networks between computers as well. In fact, I connect my children's PCs upstairs over the AC wiring because it's just a little too far from the router to work reliably over a wireless connection. And voice phone calls require much less bandwidth than computer networking. In fact, one of the companies making these products, Phonex, has an excellent line of network adapters that bridge Ethernet across the power lines in your home. See their wireless phone jack products in Figure 8-2. Figure 8-2. Easy Jack products from PhonexThe Phonex company (www.phonex.com) advertises these units for connecting a satellite dish receiver to a phone line. When you go looking for these units, you probably won't find them in the telephone or computer areas, so look in home networking or satellite sections. They work great for normal phone operations too, of course. A good explanation of these devices and others that utilize power lines for networking appears at www.powerlinephones.com. You may be surprised what you can connect through your power sockets. I've found these wireless phone jacks listed online at RadioShack and Best Buy:
Check these locations and anywhere else you feel comfortable buying. Go to any online electronics supplier and search for "wireless phone jacks" and see what appears. These should be priced about the same, or a little less, than expandable cordless phones. To me, buying wireless phone jacks to keep old phones for about the same price as a new cordless phone with extension handsets is false economy. But it's your economy, so make your own choice and don't look back. There's a good chance expandable cordless phones will drop in price a bit more over the next year or so, anyway, so you may turn out to be the smart one for waiting. 8.1.3. Plan CRewiringDon't do this. That's what every instruction page on the Internet says before describing how to do this. Even the major players who supply this information, like Vonage and AT&T CallVantage, warn you strongly against this. Again: Don't Do This. Since you're not going to listen, I will tell you what the requirements are, what you must generally do for this to work, and where to find the information. I will not give you step-by-step instructions, because I haven't done them myself and don't think you should, either. But some people want to know, so I'll tell you. Not everything, but some things. Broadband phone rewiring to support extensions works best in these situations:
You can work beyond these situations, but the process includes a much higher degree of difficulty. If you're in a multifamily dwelling, for instance, finding the demarcation point between the traditional telephone company and your unit may be impossible. If you have to break the lawi.e., trespass to reach the wiring connectionsyou can't do this. One reason you shouldn't do this in a multifamily dwelling is because you don't have control over the wiring. If someone later comes and reconnects the traditional telephone outside wiring to your unit, the voltage from the phone company may fry (yes, cause devices to break down or even burst into flames) your equipment. Okay, frying and bursting into dramatic flames is unlikely, but possible. Things will probably just quit working, but you never know. Those with alarm systems connected to their phone lines have extra hurdles to jump. Chapter 7 discussed these issues, so go back if this applies to you. If you have medical equipment connected to your phone, or medical equipment that needs occasional access to a traditional telephone line, don't risk it. Add a broadband phone line for all the good reasons listed previously, but keep the traditional telephone line for safety's sake. I shouldn't have to mention this, but sometime, somewhere, somebody with a heart monitor hooked to his poor, sick mother will make news by adding a broadband phone and mishandling the 911 activation instructions. Will it be blamed on the idiot who disconnected his mother's lifesaving heart monitor from the telephone? No, it will be blamed on the broadband phone company. On the other hand, if you mess up your TiVo or satellite TV Pay Per View connection, I couldn't care less. People watch too much TV anyway. Go to a concert. 8.1.3.1 Broad stepsThere are five broad steps for this project:
The reason any phone plug will work for your broadband router or telephone adapter connection? Your home telephone wiring runs in parallel, meaning all connections link to all other connections. Essentially, your home phone wiring is one really long wire pair running all through the house. Note: Retrofit RequirementMake sure you can easily reconnect the traditional outside telephone line when you sell you home. Because the lines are in parallel and a limited amount of voltage powers all the phones on the circuit, you will cause problems if you connect too many phones to the line. Most recommendations say a traditional telephone line can handle four or five physical phones before the load drops the voltage too low to kick off the ringer when a call comes in. Some folks report adding more phones with no problem, but your mileage may vary. Short runs with high quality cable and connectors will power more phones than long runs with poor cable and interference from electrical wires running close by. Feel comfortable with these broad steps? Then go forward, but you go without my blessing. 8.1.3.2 Detailed instructionsIf you understand these steps but don't want to do this yourself, show this information to an electrician or telephone service person. You will spend money but save frustration, and the job will likely be done with higher quality.
Working with homes wired with more than one line complicates the instructions. Homes too old to have a Network Interface Device will need to be retrofitted by your traditional telephone company before rewiring. Don't tell them what you're doing because it will hurt their feelings. Wiring in large homes may be split depending on the situation and your builder. If it is, your wiring hassle will double because of differences at the Network Interface Device and at every phone jack. You will need line splitters (effectively a two-plug molded plastic piece that separates line one from line two) for each extension. Enjoy. Since you haven't learned your lesson, here are some resources:
As do many decisions in life, your method for handling extensions comes down to the balance between cost and convenience. Expandable cordless phones are more convenient and cost more. Rewiring, if possible in your situation, costs less but is also much less convenient. Personally, since you're getting a new phone service, I think you should get new phones, too. That's because I think you're special and deserve the best. |